More specifically, the present invention relates to hand-holdable vacuum cleaners comprising a component part which can be adjusted to allow the dirty air inlet of the vacuum cleaner to be pointed in different directions, whilst a user of the vacuum cleaner is able to hold the vacuum cleaner in the same orientation. This has the advantages that the vacuum cleaner may be used to access awkward spaces and can be held more comfortably by orienting a main axis of the vacuum cleaner to suit the user and adjusting the position of the dirty air inlet to be in proximity to a surface to be cleaned, rather than orienting the main axis of the vacuum cleaner to best suit the surface to be cleaned and requiring the user to hold the vacuum cleaner in whichever orientation this demands. A hand-holdable vacuum cleaner of this type, which has a pivotable nose comprising the dirty air inlet, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,237.
Hand-holdable vacuum cleaners provided with a flexible hose attachment which give the same advantages as these are also known. An example of a hand-holdable vacuum cleaner with such a flexible hose attachment is described in German utility model no. DE 203 14 544 U. However, these vacuum cleaners have other disadvantages over vacuum cleaners of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,237, which are as follows. Firstly, the hose attachment must either be stored on the vacuum cleaner itself, as in DE 203 14 544 U, which takes up valuable room, or if it is removable, it must be stored elsewhere, in which case it may become lost or may not be readily to hand when required. Secondly, the flexible hose attachment must be supported in use by a hand of a user.
However, whereas vacuum cleaners of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,237 are advantageous for these reasons over hand-holdable vacuum cleaners provided with a flexible hose attachment, there is still room for considerable improvement over the type of vacuum cleaner disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,237. Specifically, in spite of the disadvantages of flexible hose attachments just stated, a flexible hose attachment can access a wider range of angles than a vacuum cleaner of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,237 and can also access narrower spaces in comparison thereto.